Today on “Dawn of an Era of Well-Being: The Podcast” we have a special episode featuring our co-host Frederick Tsao sharing some of his extensive knowledge of the ancient Chinese spiritual tradition of Daoism. The body of today’s episode was recorded on May 14, 2022 for the New Paradigm of Sentience and Consciousness Global Symposium which was presented by Laszlo Institute of New Paradigm Research. 

Frederick Tsao, is fourth-generation family steward of IMC Group. Assuming chairmanship in 1995, he successfully transformed a shipping business to an industrial supply chain. With more than 40 years’ experience as an entrepreneur, Fred has worked successfully with business partners and governments in multiple markets across diverse cultures. 

 A visionary entrepreneur, Fred believes east-west integration is imminent, as the well-being and happiness economy arises. Born in the east and educated in the west, Fred is uniquely positioned to bridge this integration. As Chair of Family Business Network International, Council of Wisdom, Fred promotes family business reform, to rise to this challenge.

 Fred has initiated research that has led to the publication of over 30 Chinese books. He has co-authored two English books, including the Dawn of the Era of Well-being with our co-host Ervin Laszlo. In his latest work, One Choice, One World, published in June 2023, he paints a picture of the new world order of narrative economics that serves well-being of life.

Fred also takes a deep interest in the Chinese spiritual tradition of Daoism, of which he has an extensive knowledge, and which profoundly informs him in his daily life and work.

Daoism is an ancient spiritual practice native to China but its origins date back to prehistoric times. It stresses our finding and living in alignment with the DAO which is roughly translated into English as the “Way” or the “Road”. It shares characteristics of both a philosophy and a religion.

https://www.octaveinstitute.com/en
New Paradigm of Sentience and Consciousness Global Symposium

Welcome to a special re-broadcast of of this discussion with Marti Spiegelman in honor of Indigenous Peoples' Day 2023

In today’s discussion on Indigenous beliefs, we will revisit a topic that was discussed in some detail in our earlier episode on shamanism, but from some differing perspectives. Our esteemed guest, Marti Spiegelman, actually has mixed feelings about using the term “shamanism” when describing the spiritual practice, believing the term has become too much of a generalization and a catchall. Whatever we may choose to call it, Marti is deeply involved in reconnecting the modern world with an ancient wisdom with which we have lost touch. This ancient wisdom involves the immediacy of experience and in turn a profound attunement with the universal consciousness. She emphasizes that this is not some sort of esoteric past-time, but very practical knowledge which will grant prosperity in our individual lives and a tremendous benefit for humanity.   

Marti Spiegelman holds a BA in biochemistry from Harvard University, an MFA in graphic design from the Yale School of Art and Architecture, and has advanced training in neurophysiology, psychology, and anthropology. Her executive mentoring and initiation programs – Foundations of Precision Consciousness and The Shaman’s Light Program – are dedicated to helping today’s changemakers and visionaries, across all professions, embody and apply timeless indigenous wisdom to the evolution of consciousness and thriving in today’s world.

Marti is also co-founder, with Todd Hoskins, of the ‘Leading from Being’ podcast and leadership training. She was a presenter at TEDx Berkeley 2011 and is widely known for her work in weaving indigenous principles of consciousness with modern genius to ignite quantum leaps in the ways we live, work, and create together.

https://pc.martispiegelman.org

Welcome to the THIRD season of Dawn of an Era of Well-Being. This season we are dedicating our focus to the world’s religions, and discovering how religion and spirituality can help bring the us together in a more harmonious condition. 

Today’s episode will focus on the very broad ranging subject of the Protestant Faith with our special guest Deborah Rundlett. There are numerous examples of Protestantism across the world, such as Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists and so on. What they have in common is a connection to the reform movement originating in Western Europe which challenged the doctrines of the Catholic Church, as well as the authority of the Papacy in Rome. The various branches of the Protestant Faith also place a higher stress on personal accountability as critical to salvation. We are very pleased to have Deborah Rundlett with us today to help us understand what is at the core of this numerous and multi-faceted collection of religious traditions. 

Deborah is a practical mystic who guides leaders and their teams in connecting soul with Source. Her conviction is that the whole leader requires the whole person: body, mind and soul. She is a Protestant with very deep roots in Celtic Scott and French Huguenot and serves the church as pastor and judicatory leader. She currently serves as Director of The Meetinghouse, home to Poets & Prophets, a global community of change leaders; and is a founding steward of the Global Consciousness Institute.

As a global coach and facilitator, Deborah designs journeys that weave perennial wisdom, change leadership principles, and sustainable practice toward the flourishing of people and planet. She particularly enjoys working with interdisciplinary teams.

She holds Masters of Organizational Development from Case Western Reserve University; and Doctor of Ministry from Yale University. Her current research is focused on how wisdom informs global consciousness. Deborah believes that for such a time as this, we have called to collectively take a leap to a new level of consciousness that together we might thrive.

Welcome to the THIRD season of Dawn of an Era of Well-Being. This season we are dedicating our focus to the world’s religions, and discovering how religion and spirituality can help bring the us together in a more harmonious condition. 

In today’s episode, we will be talking to Safi Kaskas about Islam which is the second largest religion on this planet after Christianity. It is also the most recent expression of the three primary Abrahamic faiths, preceded by Christianity and Judaism. Islamic practitioners, or Muslims, take their spiritual and ethical guidance from the teachings of the Quran, which was “revealed” by God to the prophet Muhammed in the 7th century CE. Muhammed is himself seen as the last prophet, following a lineage which begins with Adam and includes Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Though Islam shares this common thread with the other Abrahamic religions Muhammed is regarded as the ultimate authority, the “Seal of the Prophets.”  

In this inspired conversation, Dr. Kaskas will try to help us understand what is and is not dictated in the Quran and what it means to be a Muslim. Islam is a profoundly spiritual faith which preaches love of your fellow man as among its highest principles, yet it is clear that this message has been distorted in some parts. Kaskas will explain some of the history of the region to help us understand how some bad actors in the community have managed to gain an outsized influence on the world stage.  

Safi Kaskas is an administrator in the managerial sciences with over 40 years of broad-based experience  in strategic planning, leadership and business ethics with an emphasis on strategic management in the corporate and academic worlds.

He is a co-founder of East West University, Chicago, IL; and was elected as President of its Board of  Directors from 1979 – 2005. He continues to serve on its board as an ex officio. He is the Founder and  President of Strategic Edge Management Consultants, Dr. Kaskas helped many mid-level and large  corporations successfully develop their business portfolios. His consultant firm focused on strategic
 development within the health care industry and founded the American Strategic Healthcare  Management Company (ASHM) which is active in the healthcare field in Jeddah, Saudi Arabic.

In addition to his focus on strategic management science, Dr. Kaskas has studied Abrahamic religions and lectured throughout the US and the Middle East on subjects related to Islam, interfaith and reconciliation between Evangelicals and American Muslims. He is Senior Researcher in Islam and Multifaith Reconciliation with George Mason University, Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution.

Dr. Kaskas translated and published the Qur’an into simple easy to understand English in January 2015 and published The Qur’an with references to the Bible in January 2016. This book has 3000 references to the Old and the New Testaments.

Dr. Kaskas is the founder and President of the International Qur’an Research Association IQRA.

http://kaskas.com/

Welcome to the THIRD season of Dawn of an Era of Well-Being. This season we are dedicating our focus to the world’s religions, and discovering how religion and spirituality can help bring us together in a more harmonious condition.

In today’s episode we will be talking about Judaism with the much esteemed Rabbi Aaron Raskin. 

Judaism is one of the world’s most ancient monotheistic religions, and it is the parent tradition to the Abrahamic faiths, which include Christianity and Islam. The primary text of the Judaic faith is the Torah, which is specifically the original five books of Moses, describing the origin of the Jewish people and the laws that instruct them in ethical conduct and outline terms of their covenant with G-d. The Torah is the initial portion of a larger set of books known as the Tanakh, which is roughly analogous to the Old Testament of Christianity.

Judaism is a distinctive tradition in that it also interweaves the concepts of an ethnic group—the Hebrews or Israelites—and a political or national entity, that being the nation of Israel— which could be perceived as the Jewish people at large—historically living in diaspora—as well as the nation state of Israel centered around the sacred site of Jerusalem (or Zion). Thus Jewish identity can run along a variety of religious and secular vectors.

The topic of the Jewish spirituality is complex, multi-faceted, and has been subject to millennia of scholarly commentary. So we are very fortunate to have Rabbi Raskin joining us to share some of his knowledge on this. 

Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin is a dynamic and charismatic leader who hails from a long line of prominent rabbis. His grandfather, Rabbi Jacob J. Hecht, served as official translator to the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Rabbi Raskin came to Brooklyn Heights in September of 1988 where he co-founded the Congregation B’nai Avraham and he continues to serve as its spiritual leader. Serving a community at the crossroads of so many other diverging communities in the heart of New York City has made Raskin particularly attuned to the exigencies—and opportunities— of answering questions posed across racial, religious, and political divides. He has been consulted as reference by sources religious and secular alike (The New York Daily News; the Oprah Winfrey Network; National Geographic Magazine) and retains a unique position as a respected Jewish leader sensitive to 21st-century secular issues.

He is also author of By Divine Design: The Kabbalah of Large, Small, and Missing Letters in the Parshah (2010); Letters of Light:  A Mystical Journey through The Hebrew Alphabet (2003); and The Rabbi & The CEO: The 10 Commandments for 21st Century Leaders (2008, co-authored with Thomas Zweifel, PhD.). 

https://brooklynheightsjewishacademy.org/

Welcome to the THIRD season of Dawn of an Era of Well-Being. This season we are dedicating our focus to the world’s religions, and discovering how religion and spirituality can help bring us together in a more harmonious condition. 

Today we will turn our attention to the fascinating and perhaps not very well-understood spiritual faith of the Baha’i with Elena Mustakova. 

A relative newcomer to the spiritual traditions, the Baha’i religion was founded in Iraq in the 19th century by Mīrzā Ḥosayn ʿAlī Nūrī—also known as Bahāʾ Allāh, meaning “Glory of God.” The Baha’i belief system posits that Bahāʾ Allāh was an actual manifestation of God. Baha’i tradition is very inclusive of the Abrahamic religions and suggests a continuity amongst all of these faiths, and their key figures: Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, etc. As the encyclopedia Brittanica points out: “Bahāʾīs believe in the oneness of humanity and devote themselves to the abolition of racial, class, and religious prejudices. The great bulk of Bahāʾī teachings is concerned with social ethics. The faith has no priesthood and does not observe ritual forms in its worship.”

Elena Mustakova is a spiritual philosopher, evolutionary thinker, educator, psychologist, and social scientist, and an expert on the systemic links between individual health, culture, moral development, language, and collective social health. Her work is inspired by Bahá’í ontological understanding of reality as a spiritual phenomenon of the evolution of consciousness.

Elena believes individual consciousness has the potential to evolve towards wholeness throughout the  lifespan to the extent to which people grasp and take ownership of that process. Collective  consciousness has evolved through many stages of broadening allegiances toward more just and  comprehensive forms of governance – from clans, all the way to nation states and even geo-political  allegiances. Both individual and collective evolution can be quite painful when not understood. Her  commitment is to education that helps people grasp the intersection of their individual micro  experience and the macro socio-historical transformation under way and develop conscious agency.

www.elenamustakova.net

Welcome to the THIRD season of Dawn of an Era of Well-Being. This season we are dedicating our focus to the world’s religions, and discovering how religion and spirituality can help bring us together in a more harmonious condition.

This week we are pleased to present a truly extraordinary conversation on the Catholic faith with the Benedictine monk and Catholic Priest, Father Laurence Freeman.

With Irish and English roots, Laurence Freeman was educated by the Benedictines and studied English Literature at New College, Oxford University. Before entering monastic life, he worked with the United Nations in New York, in Banking and Journalism. He is Director of The World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) a global, inclusive contemplative community. Fr. Laurence Freeman is a monk of the Benedictine Congregation of Monte Oliveto Maggiore.

During this conversation, Father Laurence and podcast hosts Ervin Laszlo and Chavalit Frederick Tsao, and moderator Nora Csiszar, delved into a variety of topics concerning the Catholic faith and the modern world; in particular vis-à-vis the sciences and relationships with other faith traditions—all of this with the ultimate goal of building a better world through collaboration rather than competition.

https://wccm.org/people/laurence-freeman/

Welcome to the THIRD season of Dawn of an Era of Well-Being. This season we are dedicating our focus to the world’s religions, and discovering how religion and spirituality can help bring the us together in a more harmonious condition. 

This week we are turning our attention to the extremely broad collection of indigenous traditions, generally referred to as Shamanism. While Shamanism may seem to be a loose terminology, considering the countless regional variants which span the entire globe, we will see that there are common threads which connect many of these local practices. These local practitioners can be found in Central Asia, China, Japan, throughout North and South America, Africa, Australia, to name a few. The term Shamanism comes from the word has its root with the Russian word šamán, which in turn has its origins with indigenous Siberian dialects where Shamanic practices were observed by European travelers from as early as the 16th century.  

So what is Shamanism and what connects these very ancient and widespread spiritual practices which can be found on every corner of our planet? And how can Shamanism teach us something of value in our lives today? To help answer these questions we are proud to have as our guest Marcela Lobos. 

Marcela Lobos is a medicine woman initiated in the healing and spiritual traditions of the Amazon and  the Andes. She was born and raised in Chile, where she leads expeditions, working with women  shamans who belong to a matriarchal society that holds the wisdom and passion of Mother Earth.

She is a senior staff member at the Four Winds Society and is married to its founder, Alberto Villoldo.  Together they travel throughout the United States and Europe teaching the wisdom of the Medicine  Wheel. They also founded Los Cuatro Caminos in South America to share the same wisdom in Spanish.  Marcela is passionate about taking women through rite of passage that allow them to find their power,  grace, and wisdom.

https://marcelalobos.com

https://thefourwinds.com/

Thank you for tuning in to Dawn of an Era of Well-Being: The Podcast—now in our third season! 

In this exciting new season we will turn our attention to focus on the world’s religions and observe how religious traditions— and their diverse perspectives— can share an active role in bringing us together with common purpose. Too often in the past, religion has been used as a wedge, pitting us against one another; in the era of “Well-Being” we will see how various spiritual practices can also have the opposite effect of uniting us in harmony. In this fashion, it may well be that the ancient wisdom traditions will be at center of the paradigm shift which ushers in a new era! 

It has been argued, with good evidence, that Hinduism is the oldest ongoing spiritual tradition on this planet. Its distant and nebulous origins can be traced with some authority to the pre-Vedic period of the Indus Valley civilization, which takes it back to before 1750 BCE—though it probably goes back much farther, perhaps into what we consider “prehistoric” times. As the world’s third largest faith with close to one-and-a-half-billion practitioners, Hinduism is a significant force in world affairs both in current events and throughout history— Siddhartha Gautama was believed to have been an observant Hindu prior to assuming the role of The Buddha. 

In order to delve deeper into the fascinating and complex essence of Hinduism, we are honored to have joining us the renowned spiritual leader and motivational speaker, Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswatiji, better known as Sadhviji. Originally from Los Angeles, Sadhviji is a graduate of Stanford University and holds a PhD in psychology. She has lived on the banks of the sacred Ganga river in the lap of the Himalayas for more than twenty-five years, the entire time engaged in spiritual service, wisdom teaching, sacred action, and deep spiritual practice. 

Sadhviji is currently based in Rishikesh, India. She is the author of the bestselling memoir, Hollywood to the Himalayas: A Journey of Healing and Transformation, which recounts the joys and challenges that she faced during her journey to enlightenment, and those who helped her on the way.  Now one of the preeminent female spiritual teachers in the world, Sadhviji serves as the Secretary-General of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, an international interfaith organization dedicated to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene; President of Divine Shakti Foundation, a foundation that runs free schools, vocational training programs, and empowerment programs; and Director of the world-famous International Yoga Festival at Parmarth Niketan Ashram, Rishikesh—which has been covered in prestigious international publications and has been addressed by both the Prime Minister and Vice President of India.

https://sadhviji.org/

Welcome to SEASON 3 of Dawn of an Era of Well-Being, the podcast that brings together some of the world’s most innovative thinkers to weigh in on matters concerning the future of ourselves and our planet—and to discuss that future not as something to be predicted, but to be created. In this third season we will be doing something slightly different by dedicating our focus on a survey of the world’s religions and investigating how they offer wisdom to humanity at a time when it is greatly needed. In the past, religion has often been used as an instrument of division, but these discussions will be conducted with the purpose of finding commonality in the human experience, discovering how religion and spirituality can help serve a function in bringing the world together to a more harmonious condition; supporting a paradigm shift in civilization and help usher in an era of well-being.

We also want to give a warm welcome to our new moderator, Nora Csiszar.

We think it is very appropriate to start things off with a discussion on Buddhism, and are honored to have as our guest, Zoltan Cser, the Director and Vice-Rector of the Dharma Gate Buddhist College in Budapest, Hungary.  In his conversation with Ervin, Fred, and Nora we will discuss the importance of Buddhism as a spiritual practice which joins the heart and the mind to help us gain a better understanding of ourselves and the world around us. In this sense, we suggest that Buddhism is a critical source of insight for ushering in that era of well-being which this program advocates. 

Zoltán Cser was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1970. He started to practice in a Buddhist Chan Community at the age of 16 to become a monk in 1992. Later on, he enrolled at the University of Economics, but after two years, he decided to continue his studies at the newly founded Dharma Gate Buddhist College (DGBC). In 2004, he returned to DGBC as a lecturer, teaching Buddhist ethics, meditation techniques, Buddhist liturgy and breathing methods as well as to organize and lead Buddhist ceremonies. In 2003, Zoltan began to practice in the International Dzogchen Community under the guidance of Choegyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. In 2010 he became a Vajradance and Yantra Yoga instructor in the International Dzogchen Community. Between 2008–2016, he served as the Vice-Rector of Education at DGBC.

Zoltan was accepted as a doctoral student at ELTE University Budapest in partnership with the  Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU) International Buddhist Studies College Thailand. He  became the Director of the Dharma Gate Buddhist College and since 2020, he serves as the Vice-Rector  again at the same educational institution. His main focus of research is in the various meditation technics of Buddhism, while he enjoys leading regularly Buddhist retreats, teaching online and in person.

https://www.tkbf.hu/oktato/cser-zoltan/